in the program. still to come on the newshour, genetic research andthelaw; thesenate tackles immigration reform; and venezuela elects a new president. but first, the other news of the day. here's hari sreenivasan. >> sreenivasan: at least 55 people were killed in iraq today in a string of coordinated bombings and other attacks. scores of others were wounded. explosions rang out from baghdad and fallujah to kirkuk and tikrit. the force of the blasts reduced city blocks to rubble, caused chaos in the streets and left bystanders bewildered. >> what have those innocent people done to deserve this? lives of innocent people don't mean anything? we are only asking for security and safety. is this safe? no electricity, no cars, they are targeting everything, even people. everything is targeted. why? why are they doing that? >> sreenivasan: the violence came less than a week before iraqis hold local elections, their first vote since u.s. troops withdrew in 2011. there was no immediate claim of responsibility, but such attacks are often a trademark of al- qaeda's iraqi wing. a major sell-off hit w

that there will be some change in theelectorallaw, inthe expanse public sector and for the italian politics and some changes in terms of structural reforms that could carry over until the beginning of next year. while obviously it's not the ideal scenario overall, because italy needs something more than just a little changes here and there, but that would be the first step in the right direction. >> right. and as annalisa says, futures could cause near term volatility. thanks very much. she's a senior economist at new edge. speaking of tumultuous, russia's president is coming under controver controversy. while russia's economy hadn't performed badly last year, falling commodity prices risk pushing the country into recession. these comments come just hours after president putin threatened to fire officials for not following his orders on public spending. geoff cutmore is outside this event. what are you hearing about these concerns and the russian economy overnight? >> reporter: absolutely. fascinating issue. we clearly see some risks emerging in the russian government at this point. and i just want

a continuedheightenedlawenforcementpresence as the city tries to come to grips with a violent attack in the heart of boston. and that was katie davis there with that report. now london's metropolitan police are reviewing security plans for this sunday's marathon after the explosion in boston. the minister told bbc the best way to show solidarity with boston is to continue the race as the french president has stepped up security around public buildings in this country and raised the threat level to red. >>> speaking earlier, it was said the long lasting impact of terrorist attacks are low. >> research into terrorist incidents over many, many years, their economic impact, their direct economic impact tends to be very, very small, indeed. a lot of good research done on this in israel. what i would say is yes, of course, very often the economic cost is largely in how we react. what new measures are put in place to counter this sort of thing often i'm afraid a certain amount of closing the stable door after the horse has bolted. i'm afraid we live in a world where terrorism incidents are